


Christmas Preparations

by coffeebean87



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: BuckyNat Secret Santa, Christmas, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-09
Updated: 2019-01-09
Packaged: 2019-10-07 11:19:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17364953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coffeebean87/pseuds/coffeebean87
Summary: Bucky and Natasha, along with Liho and Alpine, enjoy Christmas Eve together.





	Christmas Preparations

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nocek](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Nocek).



The sound of the alarm clock on the nightstand went off. Natasha Romanoff opened her eyes and stretched as she got up. “8:00, December 24,” the buzzing clock said in bold red letters. Natasha turned the alarm off and noticed a small note on the nightstand. She opened it up and recognized James’s handwriting.

“Nat, I had to go pick up a few things for Christmas. Will come back with a surprise for you, Liho, and Alpine. Coffee’s on the stove. See you soon! Love, James.”

Natasha smiled. Christmas was James’s favorite time of the year, and he always tried to make it special for both of them. Even in the old days when he was not quite himself as the Winter Soldier, James would always get excited whenever December came. Now that he remembered who he was and the bond that the two of them had always shared, Natasha knew that James was determined to make this Christmas extra special.

Natasha walked into the kitchen and heard two meows coming from the other side of the room. As Natasha poured her coffee, Liho and Alpine came running toward her. Liho was Natasha’s cat. Natasha had found Liho looking outside her apartment window one night and had come to bond with her immediately. Alpine was James’s cat. James had adopted him shortly after the American government had pardoned him for his crimes as the Winter Soldier. After James and Natasha got engaged, Natasha gave James permission to bring Alpine over to her apartment so that Liho could get to know him.

Natasha had been somewhat nervous about allowing Alpine over at first, knowing that Liho could be protective of her territory at times. However, to her surprise, Liho had bonded with Alpine from the moment they first met. Natasha suspected that it was likely another subtle sign that she and James were meant to be together.

As Natasha was sipping her coffee, the door opened and James walked in with three shopping bags. He sat down and placed the first bag, a small paper bag, on the table. “Merry Christmas,” he said. Natasha opened the bag and found two cinnamon rolls. “Oh James, you shouldn’t have,” she said as she took one cinnamon roll for herself and gave James the other.

“Anything for the love of my life,” he said.

They proceeded to eat and savor their cinnamon rolls. As they finished, Natasha looked at James and asked, “So what’s in the other shopping bags?”

“Well, I got some toys and treats for Liho and Alpine,” he said as he opened the second bag, a medium-size bag, and pulled out cans of cat food and an assortment of cat toys.

“Oh, they’ll love those,” Natasha said. She and James then put the cat food in the pantry and the cat toys in some stockings they had bought for Liho and Alpine.

Natasha then turned her eyes to the last bag, which was sitting beside the kitchen table. Before she could ask what was inside it, James reached in and pulled out two Christmas sweaters. One sweater was forest green while the other was candy apple red. They both had white snowflakes on the sleeves, at the top, and at the bottom. In the middle of each sweater was a white cat with gold eyes and the letters “Meowy Catmas.”

Natasha could not help but giggle. She had seen those sweaters in the window of a store a few weeks ago and commented on how silly but cute the sweaters were. James must have thought that she liked them.

“Do you like them?” James asked.

Natasha kissed him on the cheek and said, “I love them. What better sweaters to have for a Christmas with two cats?”

“I thought you would say that,” said James, kissing her back. “I bought the green one for you and the red one for myself. I hope you think the green one suits you.”

“I’m sure it will,” Natasha said. “But before we put these on, we do need to make some preparations.”

She walked over to a nearby closet and pulled out four stockings: one for herself, one for James, one for Liho, and one for Alpine. Natasha then walked over to the fireplace and hung the stockings up. In the kitchen, James got out a small turkey. He then began to clean the bird and prepare to put it in the oven. After the bird was cleaned, he stuffed it with some stuffing he had made using his mother’s recipe. The day he remembered that recipe had put an immense smile on both his and Natasha’s faces.

After the turkey was in the oven, Natasha and James prepared a lunch of chicken soup. The warm, savory taste was just right for a cold day like that day. “The soup is delicious, Natasha,” James commented after taking some.

“Well, we did do it together, but thank you,” Natasha said, as she helped herself to some more.

After they had finished and cleaned the dishes, James got to work peeling potatoes while Natasha got to work chopping vegetables. In a couple of hours they would be cooked for the couple’s Christmas Eve dinner. In the meantime, Natasha and James opened up the cans of cat food to give to Liho and Alpine.

“Merry Christmas Liho! Merry Christmas Alpine!” Natasha and James said as they gave the cats their food. Once the cat food was in their food bowls, Liho and Alpine gave purs of thanks as they began to eat their Christmas dinner. James and Natasha smiled as they watched Liho and Alpine eating and thought about how wonderful it would be to have all of them together once James and Natasha were married.

In no time at all, it was getting close to time to get the potatoes and vegetables prepared. James checked the turkey in the oven to see if it was close to being ready. When he gave a thumbs up, Natasha knew that it was time to prepare the potatoes and vegetables. James followed a recipe to turn the peeled potatoes into fluffy mashed potatoes while Natasha seasoned the vegetables as she placed them in a pot on the stove. Once all the vegetables were in, she stirred them gently.

As soon as the vegetables and potatoes were ready, Natasha and James turned off the stovetop and went to put on their Christmas sweaters. The forest green sweater greatly highlighted Natasha’s bright red hair while the candy apple red sweater greatly highlighted James’s chestnut brown hair. Both of them paused by a nearby mirror to admire the sweaters. James and Natasha proceeded to laugh and gave each other looks that said that while the sweaters were somewhat tacky, they were still cute and just right for them.

After admiring the sweaters, Natasha and James went back into the kitchen to check on the turkey a second time. The position of the meat thermometer and the golden brown color of the turkey and stuffing signaled that the turkey was ready. James took a carving knife and proceeded to carve the turkey. He signaled to Natasha to prepare her plate. She walked up to the turkey and took a couple of slices and spread some stuffing on them. She then placed some mashed potatoes and vegetables on her plate. James prepared his plate while Natasha poured some wine for each of them. Once their plates were ready, they sat down to eat in their small dining room.

“The turkey is delicious, James,” Natasha said as she finished a bite of it.

“The vegetables and potatoes are good, too. Thank you, Natasha,” James said.

“I’m glad you like them,” Natasha replied.

As soon as they were done with their dinner, Natasha and James went to the kitchen to enjoy their dessert. They had made some Christmas cookies the day before and now they were ready to eat. The cookies were in the shapes of Santa Clauses, snowmen, angels, and Christmas trees. James and Natasha each took small plates and placed some cookies on them. The two nibbled at the cookies for a few minutes before going back to the dining room to clean up their plates.

As soon as the plates were in the dishwasher, James and Natasha took Liho and Alpine’s stockings off the mantle and gave the cats their presents. Liho and Alpine immediately began to play with the small balls and toy mice that came out of their stockings. Natasha and James smiled at their cat’s excitement.

After Liho and Alpine had been given their presents, James placed some wood in the fireplace. Natasha got a match to light a fire. As soon as the fire started crackling, James and Natasha sat down on the sofa to warm themselves by the fire.

Natasha looked at James and said, “I think this is the best Christmas Eve I have had in a long time. Thank you James.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it, Natasha,” James replied. “This is the best Christmas Eve I have had in a long time too.”

The two sat by the fire for a while until it burned down to embers. Before going to sleep, James checked to ensure that the fire was out. As soon as he was sure that it was, Natasha and James headed to bed, ready to dream of Christmas morning and all that would come with it.


End file.
